Summer Camp of the Wild
by MyLadyScribbler
Summary: Welcome to Summer Camp of the Wild: six weeks of glorious outdoor fun in the heart of Hyrule. Join the young campers, who come from all across Hyrule, and their counselors - Link, Zelda, and the other Champions - for a season of archery, horseback riding, paragliding, exploring ancient ruins, arts and crafts, and much more.
1. The Camp Brochure

The world of Breath of the Wild is basically summer camp, isn't it? You get archery, horseback riding, swimming, and all the other fun stuff.

So this is what it would look like if Hyrule actually had a summer camp. And this is a story of a season at Summer Camp of the Wild, told in a series of short vignettes.

Link, Zelda, and the other Champions are the camp counselors. Impa and Rhoam are the camp directors. And the children at the camp are from all over Hyrule.

**xLoZx**

**Chapter 1: The Camp Brochure**

It was a cold, drizzly morning in early spring - also known as "second winter" in Hyrule.

In a small office in a townhouse near Hyrule Castle, Link and Zelda had just spent the last hour huddled over a computer, putting the last touches on a complicated-looking summer camp flyer.

"I wish this rain would let up," Link said. "Epona's getting restless. I haven't been able to take her for a run."

"Yeah, I think everyone's got cabin fever now," Zelda agreed. "But at least," she said, tapping a few last keys on the keyboard, "we've got something to look forward to." She hit Enter and studied the result on the screen.

_Summer Camp of the Wild!_

_Six weeks of adventure, friendship, and outdoor fun in the heart of beautiful scenic Central Hyrule. _

_Archery, horseback riding, swimming, exploring ancient ruins, mock sword fights, fishing, paragliding, arts and crafts, campfire sing-alongs, and much more!_

"Daruk said we should put in the words 'death-defying.'" Link said. "He says we'll get more kids that way."

"He's probably right, but Impa will just make us take it out," Zelda shrugged.

_All activities will be fully supervised by our team of trained counselors._

"Better mention Mipha and the medical staff. That'll put a lot of parents' minds at ease," Zelda said.

"Should we talk about the basket of stuffed animals in each cabin and the late-night milk and cookies?" Link wondered.

"It's a camp brochure, you two, not a ridiculous sentimental novel," Revali said from the corridor. He headed off, muttering something about spoiled and over-indulged children.

Zelda sighed and shook her head. Link made a face at Revali's retreating back before he and Zelda returned their attention to the flyer.

Camp_ is easily accessible by the Kakariko and Hateno roads, by the Central Tower, Riverside Stable, and the _Wahgo_ Katta shrine. _

_Please send registration form and payment to The Outdoor Association of Hyrule, Number 5, Harkinian Road, Castle Town, Central Hyrule. _

"Looks good to me," Zelda said. "If Dad and Impa like it, it's good to go."

So the flyer was sent off to the printers, and then mailed.

And then it was time to count the days until summer...

**xLoZx**

Reviews welcome! This first one's kind of short, but the other ones will probably be a bit longer. I'm kind of making this up as I go.


	2. The (Mostly) Happy Campers

**Chapter Two: The (Mostly) Happy Campers**

Within a few days and weeks of the camp brochure being sent out, the following conversations began to occur in households across Hyrule:

_Kakariko Village:_

"Please?" Koko and Cottla begged. "Please please please PLEASE?"

"Well, I don't know, girls, I'll have to think it over," Dorian said, looking up from the flyer. Neither of the girls had ever been to sleep away camp. He wondered especially if Cottla was able to handle it.

"But they've got all sorts of cool stuff and things to do!" Koko begged.

"Well…" Dorian smiled. He knew when to give in. "All right, I'll write to them tomorrow."

"Yayyyyy!"

_Zora's Domain:_

"And I want to ride a horse, and I want to try archery, and I want to…" Finley was rattling off.

"Settle down, Finley, you'll get yourself all worked up," Kodah said wearily.

_Goron City:_

"Give it a shot, Pelison. It sounds fun, goro." Grayson said.

"Well, maybe. But won't you be lonely without me?" Pelison asked.

"Nah, I'll be just fine, little bro. You need plenty of fun with other kids your age. And I'll send lots of care packages and rock roasts, goro."

_Lurelin Village:_

"Oh, son, they'll have fishing gear at camp," Sebasto said. "You can probably leave your gear at home."

"But Dad, I won the All-Lurelin Porgypalooza with this rod!" Numar held up a shiny, metallic green fishing rod. "How am I supposed to go fishing this summer without it?"

"Okay, fine, you can bring that one. But everything else stays home."

"And my lucky silver bass lure?"

"All right."

"And my bait bag."

"Okay, the bait bag, but nothing more. Or you'll have no room for nothing else in your trunk," Sebasto laughed.

_Hateno Village:_

The proprietor of the East Wind shop was on the phone.

"Yes, they're going to that camp. Ivee's been chomping at the bit to get away all summer, and if I don't get Azu out of this house when school ends, my hair's going to turn gray."

_Gerudo Town:_

"I'm going to win every single archery competition!" Kalani boasted. "And then I'm going to win every mock sword fight. And then I'm going to save the camp from a band of marauding Bokoblins and Moblins and…"

"Let's just settle for having some fun at camp, shall we, dear?" Danda cut in.

_Rito Village:_

"Hey, Komali, aren't you excited?" Medli asked.

"No," Komali said flatly.

"But it'll be fun!" Medli said. "Everyone else is going. It'll be fun to see someplace outside of Rito Village this summer."

Komali only shook his head.

"He'll feel better about it later on," Komali's mother told Medli.

**xLoZx**

Reviews welcome! (Yes, I know Medli and Komali are technically from Wind Waker. But, I thought, why not?)


	3. Bored Meeting

Well, goodness, it took me forever to update this. I blame a certain little nuisance called "work" getting in the way.

**Chapter Three: Bored Meeting**

Three months later, the sun was rising over the Summer Camp of the Wild on the first morning of camp.

In her top-floor counselor's room in one of the cabins, Zelda was rattled out of a sound sleep by her alarm clock going off. Getting out of her bunk, she stretched, yawned, and stepped out onto the little balcony overlooking the camp.

The sun was rising over Dueling Peaks to the east, across the Hylia River. It promised to be a beautiful day, not too hot.

The treehouse-like cabins, built in the style of Rito Village, stood in a semicircle along the riverbanks. Beyond the cabins were the directors' offices, Mipha's clinic, the recreation pavilion and the dining hall.

Zelda would have loved to have stayed and admired the view for a bit longer, but Impa was calling a meeting before the campers arrived. She craned her neck in the direction of Link's room, which was just across a swinging rope bridge from hers. "Link! Are you up?" she called. "Or do I need to come over there with a bucket of cold water?"

"I'm up, I'm up," Link yawned. "I'm…" There was a thud as Link walked into a piece of furniture, likely a dresser. "Ow."

Zelda quickly got dressed, brushed her teeth and hair, and scampered down the maze of rope ladders and swinging bridges to get to the ground.

"Hiya, Zeldie!" Daruk rolled by in a cloud of dust, with Yunobo trying vainly to keep up.

As Zelda neared the dining pavilion, she could hear an argument in progress. In the hall, she found Purah gesturing wildly at Impa, who had her hands on her hips. Rabbie hovered nearby, listening nervously to the conversation in progress.

"Purah, my word is final," Impa said firmly. "Arts and Crafts does not mean have the kids rebuild a full-size Guardian."

"Spoilsport," Purah grumbled. But Rabbie looked decidedly relieved.

One of the dining tables was already set with a lavish spread for breakfast. Sidon, Mipha and Rhoam were already at the table. Sidon was making short work of a massive platter of grilled fish while Mipha ate a bowl of oatmeal. Rhoam drank his coffee and gazed longingly at the fishing gear resting in one corner of the pavilion.

"Morning, princess." Rhoam lifted his coffee mug in greeting.

"Hey, Dad." Zelda fixed herself a plate of eggs, fruit, grilled fish and toast and poured herself a cup of coffee.

Link and the two Gorons arrived at the pavilion at the same time. Link helped himself to some eggs, fruit and sausage, while Daruk and Yunobo dove into some fresh rock roasts.

"Morning, kiddos," Urbosa strolled into the pavilion, poured herself a massive cup of coffee and sat down at the table. Today, she wore a knee-length red sirwal, Lizalfos leather hiking boots, and a T-shirt with "World's Greatest Chieftain" on it. Her long red hair was pulled back with a fancy gold clip.

Revali and Kass came in shortly thereafter, the former wearing his usual expression of wounded pride and the latter cheerfully humming some ballad or other.

Once everyone was seated, Impa stood up at the head of the table. "All right, now that we're all here, let's get started."

"This better not take too long. There's a school of Armored Porgy calling my name," Rhoam said.

"Rhoam, the fish will still be there when the meeting's done," Impa said with a pointed look at Rhoam's fishing gear. She picked up a clipboard and studied it intently. "The kids and their parents will start arriving about ten o'clock. It's a big group this year. We've got kids from every major town and domain. Each of you is responsible for giving your cabins one last going-over before we open up. Mipha, is the clinic all up and running?"

"Fully stocked with every bandage and medicine we could ever need," Mipha said. "And we've got a drop point set up for when parents send in care packages."

"Very good. Now, to activities. Zelda, Link, you've got," Impa checked the list. "Archery, horseback riding, nature walks, and tours of the old ruins. Sidon, you're in charge of swimming and diving. But keep the kids away from the really high waterfalls, all right?"

"But I've got enough suits of kid-size Zora armor for everyone!" Sidon said. "It's no trouble at all."

"Sorry, Sidon, but the parents get squeamish about really high waterfalls. Let's see. Revali, you've got the flying lessons."

"Flying lessons?" Revali asked disdainfully. "We Rito are born knowing how to fly."

"Yeah, well, some of us weren't born with feathers on our arms, bird brain," Daruk snorted.

"You really expect me to use those ridiculous canvas things you call paragliders?"

"Yes, I do." The tone in Impa's voice brooked no argument. "Daruk, you and Yunobo are leading out a few rock climbing groups. But not too high into Death Mountain, understood? Purah, Rabbie, arts and crafts. Remember what I said."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Purah muttered.

The meeting continued in this vein for the next twenty minutes.

And then, at ten o'clock, a bus could be heard honking its horn.

"Places, everyone!" Impa clapped her hands. The meeting broke up and everyone ran outside.

The first campers had arrived.

**xLoZx**


	4. Check-In Day

**Chapter Four: Check-In Day**

"All right, check-in is this way!" Yunobo frantically waved his arms, trying to direct the massive stream of traffic flowing in through the camp gates. Between the honks of cars and the neighs of horses, it was doubtful whether Yunobo could make himself heard over all of the racket. "Boy, directing traffic is a lot harder than I thought," Yunobo said. "I should have let Daruk handle this."

"Hey, Yunobo!" Cecili flew in and came in for a landing. "How's the traffic down here?" she asked.

Yunobo sighed and gestured to the honking cars.

Cecili tsked. "This isn't even the worst of it yet. There's a huge backup on the Kakariko-Hateno road."

"Why don't more of these people take the shrines or the tower?"

"You know how it is. Some people think it's safer to take the long way, especially when you're traveling with kids."

A Zora assistant counselor went sprinting past. "Hey, Sidon, we've got a problem!" he shouted into the check-in tent. "Plumbing's out in your cabin! I think we've got some baby Lizalfos chewing on the pipes!"

"Never fear, Sidon is here!" Sidon struck a suitably heroic pose and headed off to the cabin.

"Don't you just love first-day check-in?" Impa asked Rhoam as they walked toward the check-in tent.

"You might, Impa, but I'm counting the minutes until I'm back at my usual fishing spot."

"Oh, stop whining, Rhoam, the fish can wait for a few hours and - Paya! Watch it! You're running around like a cucco with its head cut off!" Impa barked as Paya nearly plowed into them with an armload of duffel bags.

The check-in tent was mobbed with parents and children and camp staff and assorted luggage.

At the back of the tent, Link, Zelda, Urbosa, and Revali were seated at a long table, checking off each camper's name on clipboards and handing out name badges and paperwork.

"Hi, what's your name?" Link asked.

"Ivee," the teenage girl in a T-shirt and cutoffs said.

"Okay, Ivee, let's see whose cabin you're in…okay, you're in with Zelda and me, on the east side of the camp. Your little brother's in Urbosa's cabin."

"Thank Hylia," Ivee rolled her eyes.

"And we're going to be having a big welcome-to-camp sing-along around the campfire tonight," Zelda was saying to Koko and Cottla, who had both been assigned to Daruk's cabin.

Revali tsked, before turning his attention back to Numar, who was holding a large amount of fishing gear. "You, young sir, are in my cabin. Please proceed there forthwith."

"Oh, lighten up, Revali, it's not like this is the army," Urbosa chided him.

"You mean we're not actually going to stick swords in people?" one girl asked.

"Good heavens, no," Urbosa laughed.

"Aw, rats," the girl pouted.

Sidon staggered in, clutching a bleeding hand. "Okay, the Lizalfos are all gone. But I got chomped pretty good."

"Oh, poor baby brother." Mipha came over with her medical bag. She inspected the bite. "Looks bad. I'll have to amputate."

"WHAT?" Sidon looked ready to faint.

"Oh, I'm teasing. A little iodine and a bandage and it'll be good as new."

Everyone else in the tent was laughing, and even Revali made a grimace that might have been interpreted as a smile. But Sidon was still a little shell-shocked. "C'mon, sis, don't scare me like that, please?"

As the two Zoras headed off to the medical office, Zelda turned back to her clipboard.

She saw an unhappy-looking Rito boy sitting on a trunk, staring at the floor as his mother spoke to him in a coaxing tone. The boy's trunk said Komali.

Zelda checked the list of names. Komali was going to be in Sidon's cabin. She made a mental note to have Sidon keep a close eye on him.

An officious-looking father from Hateno was running down a long list of demands as his two children hovered nearby.

"Rest assured, sir, your children will be well looked after," Urbosa said before sending the family on their way. She rolled her eyes. "You see this every year," she said. "The kids are a joy. It's the parents who are a nightmare."

It was mid-afternoon by the time the last camper was checked in and the parents were sent on their way. Needless to say, there were a few tears at the parting.

"Aw, don't cry, little guys." Daruk whipped out a handkerchief that was at least the size of a tablecloth and dropped it over the heads of some kids who were starting to get a little sniffly. The kids were so surprised that they stopped crying.

As the afternoon wore on, the sun began to sink lower in the sky. The aromas of food cooking emanated from the dining pavilion, and smoke arose from the main campfire area.

Camp was now in session.

**xLoZx**


	5. Toasting and Roasting

Well. I have been SADLY remiss in keeping my assorted fics up to date, due to work responsibilities and the general chaos of quarantine. So now I'm getting things running again.

**Chapter Five: Toasting and Roasting**

Flames reached high into the sky from the bonfire-sized campfire in the center of camp, as all of the campers and counselors gathered in for the traditional opening-night campfire sing-along.

Daruk's voice could probably be heard from two hundred miles away as he led the campers in a warm-up song.

_"On top of Death Mountain, two thousand feet tall…we spotted some Guardians, and we busted 'em all!"_

Kass looked a little faint at Daruk's choice of campfire song. But most of the kids and the counselors were joining in with undisguised gusto.

_"They'd tried to attack us, they'd set up a trap…but we blew them to shrapnel, and sold them for scrap!"_

The song ended with a lot of whooping and cheering. "That was great, little guys!" Daruk said.

A lot of the campers had marshmallows toasting on sticks by the fire, and someone had supplied boxes of cookies and chocolate bars to make s'mores with.

"Oh, boo!" Cottla threw her stick down in frustration after she burned yet another marshmallow.

"Cottla, don't hold your marshmallow too close, it'll burn," Koko said.

"This is stupid," Cottla pouted, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Looks like some of you need refills on marshmallows," Daruk boomed. "Who's got the bag?"

"Over here!" Link reared back his arm and threw over the marshmallow bag…and it landed in the fire. "No!"

"Nicely done, Link," Revali said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "This bodes well for when it's time for you to direct the archery practice."

"Shut up, Revali, a bag of marshmallows isn't exactly aerodynamic," Link snipped.

"Don't worry, everyone, we've got more," Sidon called.

Another bag of marshmallows was quickly handed around. "Like this," Daruk said, helping Cottla hold her new marshmallow. "That's right. Close enough that'll get nice and toasty."

Impa got to her feet and raised her hands for silence.

"Now that we're all here," she said, "I'd like to welcome all of you to the Camp of the Wild. We're so glad to have all of you here. So many new faces, and I see quite a few returning faces."

She began a quick rundown of some of the activities that were going to be offered. "Every Thursday we have horseback riding, and on Tuesdays we do sailing trips on Lake Hylia, and then we have our all-camp Capture the Flag tournament…"

That seemed to get a big cheer out of some of the kids, and a few groans from some of the counselors.

"Hey! Urbosa's cabin! We're gonna mop the floor with you!" a boy from Purah's cabin shouted. "Don't think we've forgotten last year!"

"Oh, yeah?" a girl shouted back. "You idiots couldn't find the flag if it sprouted teeth and bit you in the - "

"That's enough - there will be no trash-talking on the first night of camp, or any night of camp, understood?" Impa interjected sternly.

The kids quietened down, but could still be seen throwing evil looks at each other.

"I'm telling you, Zelda, I don't know why we even have Capture the Flag," Urbosa muttered.

"Because we decided it was a lot less dangerous than laser tag with a Guardian scout," Zelda said.

"Oh, Hylia, don't remind me."

"Don't worry about Capture the Flag," Mipha said. "Whatever happens, we've got a nice full clinic."

"I don't know, Mipha, with this bunch, I think you're going to need a full-blown trauma unit," Link remarked.

In the meantime, Impa was still talking.

"…and you'll find sign-up sheets for all the activities in the recreation pavilion. For first aid, our camp doctor Mipha has asked that we…"

"Impa, the s'mores are getting cold," Purah interrupted.

"Shut up, Purah," Impa retorted. But she took the hint. "We've got a whole summer of fun of us, and we hope you have as much fun as we will. Rhoam, would you like to say anything?"

"Only that I think we need to stop talking and start singing again," Rhoam said from where he sat at the opposite side of the fire circle.

Impa tsked and sat back down.

"I'd like to pick the next song," Kass said, picking up his accordion. "Perhaps a ballad from Hyrule's ancient days?"

"Kass, no offense, you know a lot about ancient ballads," Zelda said. "But ancient ballads usually don't work as campfire songs."

"But the story of the dragon spirits on Mount Lanayru…"

"Definitely not. That one's got twenty verses and too many words, and the melody goes all over the place," Sidon said.

Kass sighed. "As you wish."

The campfire gathering continued until it was well and truly dark out, with stars coming out into the sky one by one.

"All right, everyone, it's off to bed now." Impa clapped her hands. "Counselors, if you will lead your campers back to their respective cabins, please."

There was some mumbling and grumbling and "I'm not sleepy." But the campers slowly got up and followed the counselors back to their cabins.

**xLoZx**

Reviews welcome!


	6. Link's (and Everyone Else's) Awakening

**Chapter Six: Link's (and Everyone Else's) Awakening**

"RISE AND SHINE, LITTLE GUYS!"

Daruk's bellow startled Link straight out of a sound sleep, and soon after, out of his bunk.

"Ouch…" Link picked himself up off the floor, opened his window, and leaned his head out, blinking a bit against the early morning sun. "C'mon, Daruk, it's too early in the morning!"

"What do you mean, little guy? It's time to get up, isn't it?" Daruk boomed from the grassy common area in the middle of the cabins.

"Yeah, but the idea is to wake people up, not to startle them within an inch of their lives," Zelda called from her own window. Her hair was a mess and she was still bleary-eyed from sleep.

From the other cabins, there came a few shouts of "Keep it down!" and "Help! We're under attack!" and "Five more minutes, please!"

Daruk grinned and rolled back to his cabin.

"Come on, Link, we'd better get our kids moving. You get the boys up and I'll help the girls along," Zelda said.

Link scampered down the rope bridge and went into the boys' section of the cabin. "Morning, everyone, up and at them," he said.

The five campers in the boys' section were Pelison; another Goron child named Slergo; a small bespectacled boy from Hateno Village named Teebo; an older boy from Lurelin Village named Garini; and a Zora boy named Keye. All five of them were already awake thanks to Daruk's wakeup call.

"Are we being invaded or something?" Teebo asked, peering out from under his cot.

"No, that's just Daruk being Daruk," Link said. He headed down along the cots and hammocks, urging everyone along. "How're you doing this morning, Garini? You sleep all right, Keye?"

"That wasn't so loud," Slergo grinned. "There are some Gorons who can cause avalanches and earthquakes and stuff."

Zelda was in the girls' section of the cabin, urging everyone out of bed. The five girls in the cabin were Finley, Ivee, Kalani, Medli, and a Rito girl named Molli.

"I can't find my binoculars!" Molli fretted.

"You left them hanging on the branch by the window, silly," Finley said.

"Do we have to make our beds and stuff?" Kalani asked.

"Don't worry about making your beds. We can have cabin inspection after breakfast," Zelda said.

A few minutes later, Link and Zelda and their campers were walking in a loose group toward the dining pavilion.

Urbosa hailed them as she arrived with her group. "What a night! Someone in the boys' section short-sheeted all the beds!" she said, with a meaningful look at Azu. Azu merely whistled and tried to look innocent.

The cookpots in the pavilion were churning out eggs prepared a hundred ways, bacon, porridge, toast, broiled fish, simmered fruit, and every other kind of breakfast food the campers and counselors could want. For the Gorons, Daruk had brought in a generous supply of agates, rock roasts, and an assortment of ore. And there were big pitchers of orange juice and kettles of cocoa for the campers, and coffee and tea for the counselors.

At the directors' table, Impa and Rhoam each seemed to be on their second cup of coffee.

Mipha and Sidon were already there with their cabin. All of their campers were eagerly tucking into their breakfast, except for Komali.

"Don't be scared," Sidon said to him. "It's going to be a great day - you'll see."

Each cabin had its own round table. The campers moved through the line, filling their plates, and sat down at their assigned tables.

"Are we going horseback riding today, Link?" Finley asked in between bites of egg and fish.

"Not yet. Impa wants everyone to settle in for a bit before we take the horses out. But if you want, you can drop by the stables and say hi to the horses," Link said.

On the other side of the table, Zelda was telling Molli and Garini about the nature walk she was planning. "…and we're going to go up that trail in the hills, and there are some really cool old ruins up there…"

Daruk lumbered in, with his cabin in tow, and with Koko and Cottla perched high up on his shoulders. Revali and his cabin soon followed.

"Revali's campers don't look too happy," Zelda remarked.

"Well, if you had Revali for a counselor, you wouldn't be happy either," Link said.

Purah's cabin was the last to arrive, almost as everyone else was done. "Save me some of that bacon and sausage!" she yelled. "And there'd better be some coffee left or I'm going to be very cross!"

Thus began the first full day at camp.

**xLoZx**


	7. Splashes and Smashes

**Chapter Seven: Splashes and Smashes**

"Huff…puff…"

Medli front-crawled her way across the swimming pond, water splashing over her head and leaking into her swim goggles.

She had another six yards to swim before she reached the other side of the pond. But it might as well have been on the other side of Lake Hylia.

Her feet had long since ceased to touch the pond's sandy bottom, and her mind was filling with all sorts of thoughts about what was lurking beneath the water's surface.

"Come on, you can do it!" Sidon was waist-deep in the water, a whistle around his neck and a clipboard in his hand.

Sidon was overseeing that morning's swimming tests, to see how ready the campers were for water sports. Each camper had to do breaststrokes, backstrokes, and the butterfly, float on their backs, and then swim to the other side of the pond and back.

"Just a bit more, you're doing great!" Sidon called.

Medli reached the other side of the pond at long last. She flopped down on the sand and the dune grass and spread her wings out to dry.

"Good work!" Sidon checked off something on the clipboard. "Well done, Medli! Tona, you're next!" he called to a Zora girl waiting next in line.

If anything, Tona looked even more nervous than Medli did. She stood on the edge of the pond, toes curled into the sand, with a pair of inflatable water wings on her arms.

"Step right in, Tona, that's right," Sidon coaxed her.

"You're a Zora! You're supposed to already know how to swim!" a boy said.

Tona turned bright red and tried to hide her face.

"Not always," Sidon said. "Some of us learn to swim faster than others, and some never swim at all. It's the same with Ritos and flying."

Tona took a few hesitant steps into the water.

"Look out below!" somebody yelled.

A giant red rubber kickball landed in the water with a splash. Tona gasped and jumped out of the way.

"The blood moon rises once again," Sidon joked. He picked up the ball and looked around to see where it had come from.

"Hey, Sidon, can you send that back up here?" Riju called from the top of the ladder leading down to the pond. She also had a whistle around her neck, like Sidon, but unlike Sidon, she was looking harried and frazzled.

"Coming up!" Sidon threw the ball into the air and gave it a perfect volleyball spike up to Riju.

"Thanks!" Riju caught the ball and turned back to the dodgeball game in progress on the green.

The game teams consisted of ten kids in various states of being sweaty, disheveled, and grass-stained.

"Now, I want to be clear. I don't want to see any more hard throws, do you understand?" Riju said sternly. She was looking squarely at three boys in particular - Kenyo, Nebb, and Sefaro - as she said this.

"Okay."

"Sure."

Riju wasn't entirely convinced those three would follow orders.

"Switch teams now. Red team on the outside, blue on the inside," Riju said.

Kenyo aimed for the blue group and threw the ball as hard as he could. Most of the kids were able to jump out of the way - except one.

The ball smacked hard into Komali's stomach, sending him to the ground. "Owww!" Komali cried.

"Whoo! Good shot, Kenyo!" Nebb and Sefaro high-fived him.

"Time out!" Riju blew her whistle and helped Komali sit up. "Komali, are you all right?"

But Komali scrambled to his feet, wiping at his eyes, and ran away without a word.

"Game over," Riju said. "Everyone back to the recreation pavilion. You three," she said with a warning look at the three boys, "I want to have a word with you as soon as I get back there." She got to her feet and headed off after Komali.

A short distance up the path, Riju almost collided with Zelda, as the latter stepped out of the supply shop with an armload of backpacks and canteens.

"Is everything all right, Riju?" Zelda asked. "I just saw Komali go running past a second ago. He looked really upset."

"Dodgeball game gone wrong," Riju groaned. "Urbosa wants me to organize the next round of stuff in the pavilion. But now I have to help Komali, and I'm probably going to have to haul those three kids from Purah's cabin in for a talk with Impa. Can you take over for me?"

"Well, I've only got a few minutes before I'm taking some kids out hiking, but I'll see what I can do. And I'll see if Yunobo can help - he's good at that kind of thing."

"Thanks, Zel." Riju rolled her eyes. "Being a junior counselor wasn't supposed to be this hard!"

Zelda laughed. "Welcome to camp, Riju."

Meanwhile, back down at the pond, the last of Sidon's swimming class had exited the pond. Tona had discarded her water wings - which ended up being a hindrance - and she was now out of breath but considerably happier.

"Zo! Zo! Ra! Ra!" Sidon beamed and checked something off on his clipboard. "Full marks for everyone. What a fine group of swimmers! Now let's go get you all outfitted for some Zora armor, and we'll all go swimming up the waterfall up the river, how's that?"

A big cheer went up from the kids.

"Excellent! Last one to the supply shop is a rotten egg!"

**xLoZx**


End file.
